Where’s this bad economy I keep seeing on TV? Go to any large mall or shopping center in Central Florida and try to find a parking space. Mid week, weekends – doesn’t matter.

If I do say so myself, the garden is turning out awesome this season. It has to be a combination of the improved soil, an improved farmer, and the sensational weather. As a concrete measure, I planted 50+ seedlings a few days ago and have had 100% survival. That’s highly surprising for me. I typically see a 5-10% fall out at that point in the process and always have spares available to compensate for the losses. I’m thinking that the greenhouse may be having some impact on that as well since the seedlings are being raised in an environment much closer to the garden than when I was growing them in the house or on the screened porch. I always tried to “harden” the plants before transplanting but it was only for a few days whereas the greenhouse is home for 4-6 weeks. The other thing different is that after planting I always spot some areas that are not quite up to par. This year I do have a spot but it’s less than 20 SF and will be corrected in February when the next scheduled composting happens. I distinctly remember the first couple of years when I would pinpoint the good areas so lots of progress in that department. I’ve taken a couple of pics to show off. Where you see the apparently empty areas, look more closely. There are small seedlings growing there, in keeping with my attempts to keep a continuous stream of goodies maturing.

Went back to Publix with Nancy to pick up on a couple more of the discount gas cards I mentioned some time back. While she shopped for the necessary $50 worth of merchandise, I went back to the produce section to really delve into what they were currently selling and how expensive it was. I was blown away last week when I did a cursory price check so this time I was going to home in on it. I picked up a bunch of kale, where a bunch is 3 leaves, $2.99. Three leaves isn’t even a good taste let alone a meal. The same was true with fresh collards-a bunch of perhaps 5 leaves, $2.99. Five leaves cooks down to a fork full at best. George picked a wash tub full last time, $30 worth if he’d bought them at Publix. A bunch of beets, that would be 3 beets – $2.99. That’s a dollar per beet and it’s hardly worth going to all the trouble of cooking just 3 beets. Leaf lettuce was $1.99 for a small bunch. If you mix lots of other stuff with it, there was enough lettuce for a salad for two. And let me mention, these veggies were just regular veggies, not organic. And they didn’t look very good either; really limp and colorless. George is convinced the high prices are a result of all the farmers growing corn for ethanol; my guess is the drought throughout the southeast.

I’ve noticed in past years that my cauliflower has a tendency to turn pinkish/purple after starting out the classic snow white. Doesn’t seem to effect the taste but it has bothered me just a bit because I thought maybe it was a fungus or something – maybe I was waiting too long to pick. Learned something enlightening in one of my seed catalogs – turning pinkish/purple is a sign of stress – either water or fertility stress. Remember my soil tests have come back saying my garden is fertility challenged, well there’s the explanation. I’m going to fertilize the cauliflower more heavily this year and see if that keeps the heads nice and white. Must be lots of experimentation going on with cauliflower because there are new colors offered every year. I’ve tried the orange variety, cheddar, the purple variety, I think it’s called Violet Queen, but this year is the first time I saw green cauliflower. Not sure why they named it Panther, but there it is. I am growing a variety called Veronica which looks like a cross between cauliflower and broccoli with green spiraled heads, very bizarre looking. It all tastes about the same to me but it sure raises a few eyebrows when served for dinner. My neighbor is a traditionalist and simply won’t pick anything but the white. Works for me.

I’m actually back watching some pro football this season.The Dolphins are finally winning and then there are the Colorado Gators. Normally I turn the tube on and after about 3 minutes get bored to tears and turn it off. Not so much this year. The Lions started off the season by actually winning some games caught my attention because I knew Simon would be stoked. Then the background noise from Denver about the fans wanting to see Tebow play but the leadership keeping him benched tweaked me a little since I have some friends in Utah who are ardent Bronco fans. I’ve watched them play 3 games now and one thing for certain, the games are super close right up to the last minute. And they do wear Orange and Blue.

I’m really hating this Gingrich surge. I smell another Goldwater disaster in the making. I’ve felt from the get go that Romney just wouldn’t get it but had hopes for any number of others in the race to eventually pull ahead. The only one worse than Gingrich would be Ron Paul from a self destruction standpoint. No doubt Gingrich is the smartest guy around but he’s the loosest of loose cannons. The lib media is just drooling with the prospect of keeping him viable to feed raw meat to the Democrats next year. I’m trying mentally to just forget the presidential situation and pull for a clean sweep of congress by the Republicans. If that occurs, I guess even Romney would be ok.

Accidentally tuned into a show on the tube the other night that made my day. After the PBS news they switched to a local garden show and before I could find the remote to change the channel, they announced that tonight the topic would be vegetable gardening and the host was some recognized expert. He was going through different veggies and different problems and casually mentioned beets and that he had consistently bent his pick trying to grow them. I’ve had exactly the same situation and blamed me for just not knowing the way to grow them. All of a sudden I felt relieved. He also said that he basically quit gardening in June and didn’t start again until September/October. That’s exactly how I read it. The exception, he said, was to grow sweet potatoes. He said you basically put the starts in around May and dig up the potatoes 5-6 months later. He said he just picked up a couple of potatoes from the grocery store and either half buried them in the garden or stuck them in a jar of water to force sprouting. Then pull off the sprouts and stick them in the ground. He said trying to grow almost anything else in the summer was way too much trouble and work for what you might yield. Another good tip that I learned the hard way – mark the spot where you plant the sprout. Once the vines start growing, it’s impossible to find the spot where the tubers start. He said you just work your hand down into the soil at the planting spot to feel the size of the tubers and whether they’re ready for picking. I add eggplant, green peppers, and okra to the list of summer stuff but have vowed to avoid all thoughts of raising tomatoes, squash, melons or anything else.

Today reminds me of a typical Sunday afternoon in Salt Lake City. The quilt frames are up, taking up the whole Great Room, and I’m whipping up a batch of chicken cacciatore for dinner. The key ingredient missing is my buddy and fellow chef, Chris. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to pull it off solo. We worked together like a finely tuned machine and turned out some true masterpieces of cacciatorium. I know I’ll be able to make the pasta but Chris was critical in coating the chicken, cutting up the veggies and being the chief cheer leader. The whole process used to take us a couple of hours and made a glorious mess of the kitchen. I don’t have an actual recipe to look at. In the past I remember that we took two different recipes from this very, very old Italian cookbook and combined them to create our own version. Naturally that book is history meaning I have to go totally by memory so it’s likely some spices will be missing or changed.

Another difference with this batch of pasta is that I’m using Semolina flour instead of regular flour. There was a difference right away in making the dough. It has more of a yellow color and a noticeably smoother texture.

Results – I was correct in remembering it was a very messy process. The semolina pasta was good and seemed just a bit firmer to me. Nancy has a better sense of taste than me and she thought it was better so it probably was. One big difference is that with just Nancy and I, there was enough food for two large meals and I don’t remember that being the case years ago. As for the cacciatore itself, it was pretty good but not up to our old standards – my opinion. I think the veggies were cut too small and the type of tomatoes used was not optimum. Clearly I need more practice or a skilled co-pilot.

TRAGEDY STRIKES – This weeks leads up to a full moon, I have a new battery for the trolling motor, and replaced the line on my two spec rods. The last time I’d used the jon boat or any of the spec equipment was last December. I had pulled the boat well up on shore when the lake level got too low to use the lift on the dock. It took everything I had to get it back into the water at which point I connected the battery to find out that the trolling motor was dead. When I started to mess with it, water poured out from the control head – a bad, bad sign. I took it up to the shop and started disassembling the head in hopes of drying it out and restoring it to good health. The wind started picking up so morning fishing was now out of reach. By mid afternoon, still nothing so I have to assume it’s history although I’ll try again tomorrow. Maybe bring it in to bed with us tonight for some real tender loving care. I was really disappointed when I called Bass Pro Shops – this is their house brand motor – and drew a complete blank about having it repaired. Something about a $99 diagnostic charge for a motor that cost $150 new. That price didn’t include any replacement parts or labor, just the diagnosis. Maybe it will work again in a couple of days but this full moon thing won’t happen again for another month and spec season is in full bloom, now. Luckily I found a reconditioned 40# thrust Minn Kota on sale and my bride found a free shipping coupon for Cabelas so as of this moment, there’s somebody in Nebraska filling out a shipping label with my name on it. In the mean time, I’ll be trolling behind the kayak. The spec gods are clearly trying to keep me off the lake.

Probably a good thing Urban Meyer left Florida. Clearly he has some mental issues. Wonder if they added a whacko clause in his contract?

I’ve mentioned before that I do grow some things in the garden that I don’t eat. My neighbor requested kale and collards plus Nancy likes them both. I like the way they look in the garden and figure if they’re eating those items, that means they’re not eating the things I like on the theory that you can only eat so much. Since George and Barbara know I don’t care for them and Nancy does, when they make a batch, they bring some over for her. Well a couple days back they did a major collard cutting and a few hours later a tupperware style plastic container with collards showed up on the kitchen counter. I bumped into both Barbara and George in the garden and they said that without a doubt, these collards were the best they had ever eaten in their lives. That’s a big statement from Barbara since she comes from a family that sold produce commercially for years and is a multi-generational southerner. So when Nancy heated up the greens as a side for dinner, I decided to take a taste and see if they were bitter and stringy as I remembered them (from about 50 years ago). Nope, they were really edible. I even went back for seconds since the first helping was only one forkful. Here’s the thing, the variety I grow is an old standby variety, I think they’re called Georgia collards, so it’s most likely the same variety they’ve eaten in the past. The difference has to be that within 30 minutes of being picked, they were cooked. With other veggies I’m aware of, as soon as they’re picked the sugars start converting to starches. I guess that makes them less sweet and toughens the texture. I think I mentioned that Nancy sauteed up a few kale leaves the other day. I did the same taste test and was surprised when they weren’t the least bit bitter. But it was the same – from the plant to the frying pan in about 15 minutes.

Guess what – the second batch of spinach seeds I planted, also a 2008 vintage, germinated just fine; guess I just can’t conclude that only new spinach seed works. So now we have a long position of spinach in the pipeline. When I say a long position, assuming poor germination at best, I planted a single 25′ row very densely, a few seeds per inch. Assuming all the ones I spotted do indeed pop out fully, and assuming I carefully thin them, there would easily be 100 running feet of spinach. Spinach is a really fast crop, I think this variety is something like 39 days – think spinach salad in January.

As of Dec 3, not a square foot of garden space available to plant. Put in 3 full 18 plant flats yesterday – and planted seed in the green house for the last planting of the season in about 6 weeks. Considering how much planting area I’ve added in the past year, no doubt this will be the largest crop ever at Rancho Purdom. After consulting with my two premium customers, Nancy and Barbara, I decided to not plant the celery at all. Their opinions were independently made but identical – celery takes too long to grow, takes up too much space, and is cheap at the grocery store so use the space for a better return. Anybody want any celery starts?

I’ve already planted Flashy Butter Oak lettuce in the spot previously designated celery alley. The flashy refers to the red streaks in the green; butter says it has some Buttercrunch genes, making it extra tender; Oak refers to the shape of the leaves so this variety has a really wide parentage. I grew it last year for the first time and it was extra good. Doesn’t like the heat at all so it’s a Jan/Feb crop for us.

The seed catalogs are rolling in and I came across my first “must try”. This is not just a new variety, this is a whole new vegetable called “Flower Sprouts”. It’s a cross between Brussels and Kale and instead of the tight cabbage like heads on regular Brussels Sprouts, these are mini open leaf sprouts that look like tiny lettuces. There are 3 types – red, green, and bicolor. The catalog says you lightly steam, saute, stir fry, or roast and that the color will hold if lightly cooked. They’re very proud of them – $11 for a packet of seeds, probably 100 or fewer per packet. That’s about 10x the price I would normally pay for sprouts. The only thing telling me to toss caution to the wind and go for the gold is that I just got in from checking produce prices in Publix and was blown away to find a bundle of chard, about half enough for a meal, at $3.99 and a poor looking cauliflower for $3. That makes any seeds I buy seem a real bargain. I know I’m going to be the first kid on the block with Flower Sprouts.

From expensive seed to cheap seed. I mentioned that I could drop in on the local ACE hardware and get a pack of spinach seed if this last batch doesn’t germinate. We were driving by the ACE and I decided to just go ahead and get a seed packet and use it later this season if the older seed does germinate. Typically when I buy a packet of seed from one of the premier suppliers, it costs nominally $2.50. If I pick up a packet from Lowes or ACE it’s a lesser brand but will cost more on the order of $1.50. Turns out the ACE sells some bulk seed which happened to include spinach seed. I scooped out a small bag full, still much more than I will use in a season. It weighed about an ounce and cost 16 cents. There’s not a great variety to select among but they do have a few of the varieties I usually plant.

A post or so back I predicted no more info regarding ghost peppers. That turns out not to be true. I got a report back from my nephew, to whom I send a quart bag full via USPS. Although they were fresh picked and shipped the same day, when they arrived two days later, they were starting to spoil and only about half made it. I guess they had started decomposing to a liquid state which dripped through the shipping box. USPS double bagged them for delivery. I can just imagine what must have been going on in the sorting center or post office. The problem must be that the fumes from the peppers are so caustic, they attack the surrounding peppers and cause them to hyper ripen or decompose. So there must be a trick to packing these for shipment.

Had a double bad battery day. The battery in the truck had been threatening to crash for a while and finally did. And coming onto spec season, I needed to make sure the trolling motor battery was up to the season. It was as dead as it can get. Anybody priced new batteries lately? I think they’ve doubled in price since the last batteries I bought. The truck battery was a 2002 vintage so I really can’t complain about that.

My premise that somebody shot the marauding bear was wrong or we have another one. For the past week we’ve been visited several nights and those less careful than us, have had their trash cans dumped. My new neighbor found himself up close and personal to a large black bear the other night. He was out in his shed putting a battery charger on his mower and hear some rustling and rumbling nearby. He pointed his flashlight in that direction and the beam lit up the intruder about 50′ away. Way too close. Personally, I’ve had no problems at all since I started putting the trash can in the shed until pickup day. I just don’t particularly like the idea of these guys wandering around in the dark and hoping they don’t decide to come into our screen porch. I’ve noted that we’re the only ones around that have a granite gravel driveway and parking area. It’s really uncomfortable to walk on barefoot or with flimsy foot protection so perhaps the bear prefers nice asphalt or dirt to nasty, sharp gravel. Don’t hold your breath waiting for me to post a pic of the bear. Not going to happen unless I find him dead in the yard with buzzards picking at the carcass – that way I’ll assume it’s really dead and not trying to fake me out.

I mentioned a few posts back that some 2008 vintage beet seeds I planted had germinated well so I tried some spinach seed from the same year. After almost 2 weeks zip, nada, zero. I just happen to have another pack of spinach seeds, same vintage, different variety, unopened so I’m going to try again. In the back of my mind I seem to recall something about spinach seed needing to be “fresh” but nothing lost by trying again. It’s such a short crop anyway that if this pack fails too, I can drop by the local ACE hardware and pick up a fresh pack. Also it looks like a variety of the swiss chard I planted, called perpetual spinach, is doing just fine so if a spinach crisis happens while I’m playing around with old seed, I’ll be able to rush in with a rescue.

The pic shows the greenhouse full of seedlings growing their little hearts out and yearning for the big time garden experience. There are six 18 position flats and I’ll have another one to add next week. One of these is a mix of stuff that I’ve put together for an old friend in Altamonte who celebrates his 80th net month. He still piddles around in the yard and his wife says he’ll enjoy growing some new veggies. Nancy will tie a ribbon around the flat to make it official. Two weeks from now, the moves from the greenhouse will start. Unless we get a freeze between now and then, I’ll have to pull out a couple of eggplants to make room. The plants designated for sacrifice are from the original planting and just running out of gas albeit still popping out a few.

Thanksgiving was a great success. Good mix of friends and family so the conversations were wide and varied. Good food. We ended up staying overnight at Tom’s so that Nancy et al could do Black Friday. Unfortunately that seems to be a bad tradition forming. Everyone except Tina and I, actually made 3 shopping excursions. The first was to hit the 9PM Thanksgiving sales somewhere; then the midnight outing which had them back by 2AM to get rested up for the main thrust at 5AM. I nominally slept through the whole thing.

I’ve always enjoyed being around the grandkids but if anything, it gets better the older they get. Their interests are wide ranging and it’s fun to get their political opinions (I had none at their age), campus news, and hearing the trials and tribulations of everyday living on tight budgets and class schedules they deal with on a regular basis. I’m impressed with how well versed they are on current events but also how so many things have not changed at all in the 50 years since I was in school. Tommy brought several of the weekly magazines that he worked on this semester as Editor and I went over them with a fine tooth comb – while the others were out shopping. Other than some of the content, overall you would never have guessed it was a student produced publication. I guess next Thanksgiving we’ll be listening to first year at a job stories – at least that’s the plan for now.

You probably wonder how the cole slaw worked out. Maybe even lost sleep wondering about it. We brought a substantial bowl full as a side to Tom’s smoked pulled pork. I’m probably biased but thought it was better than good, approaching perfection. Looked to me like everybody chowed down on it pretty good with no complaints and rounds of second helpings. Definitely plan to do it again, and again, and again – so long as the cabbages hold out. I’ve already got another variation planned using shredded broccoli stalks along with the cabbage. Bet shredded kohlrabi would work too and nobody would ever guess what the secret ingredient is.

I thought I was done mentioning the ghost peppers since I pulled them from the garden the other day. The final batch I picked filled on of those plastic Wal Mart bags, at least 5 pounds worth. On a whim, I looked them up on E-bay to see if they had any value. What a shock – the seeds, not the peppers themselves but just the seeds – are worth ten cents each; the peppers 1$. I didn’t want to cut into a pepper for a seed count (or any other reason) but I know there will be at least 10 seeds in each pepper and probably more. There’s a couple of peppers per ounce so you can do the math on the value of this small crop. Another reference point – one of the seed companies I buy from is now offering the seeds in their newest catalog – $3.95 for 10 seeds. I didn’t count them but, over the season, I had to pick over 1000 peppers, at least 10 pounds, from just 3 plants and they were no where near finished producing. I looked back in my records and saw that I planted the seeds indoors 4/24 and then outside on 7/18, that’s a very slow start. The plants never wilted but seemed not to grow at all for the first couple months. I assumed the soil conditions were just not right but didn’t pull them. Then they started a growth spurt that brought them to full 3′ tall bushes. The first peppers were picked in October, that too is slow growth and probably why they’re expensive. The number of peppers and blossoms kept accelerating so, weather permitting, I probably could have filled another bag in the next two weeks. The other thing different about this variety compared to other peppers I grow, the roots really go deep. I couldn’t actually pull the plants but rather ended up cutting them off right at the base and then overfilling the roots with nearly a foot of compost. That should kill them but I guess it’s not impossible they’ll pop back up. I’m pretty sure I won’t grow new plants next year but, just in case, I saved a few peppers to collect the seeds.

My assignments for the Thanksgiving festivities (at Tom’s) were to make the cranberry sauce and for the birthday party the next day, Dutch Cole Slaw. The latter because we have a long position in cabbage at this point. Nancy was at bridge so I had the whole kitchen to myself and could really cut loose with no concerns for where things were falling, flying, dripping etc. The cranberry sauce was pretty standard, follow the instructions on the label, kind of cooking. I did add a few tangerine sections to make it just slightly different.

The cole slaw was quite a different task and involved using the Cuisinart with two different blades. The recipe didn’t say that but I didn’t like the first one I picked. In fact the recipe didn’t mention using using the Cuisinart at all. It just seemed like the right thing to do. It needed a little ingredient help so I added a couple of shredded carrots and a handful of shredded radishes. Why not, I happen to have plenty of both and think a touch of red adds some seasonal color. I thought about a micro inch or so of a ghost pepper but decided that was literally playing with fire. Another subtle difference is that I used two varieties of cabbage, Early Jersey Wakefield, a heritage variety, and Farao, a modern hybrid. My Chinese cabbage is just not ready or it would have really been different. Would it still be Dutch cole slaw if it included Chinese cabbage? What a mess. I had bits and pieces of everything all over the kitchen. I have trouble judging what size pots or bowls to use so I end up using more than necessary and ended up with a sink full plus needing cleaning. I think I’ve cleaned it all up before Nancy gets home but she’ll probably spot a sliver or two of whatever on the floor, on the counter, on the ceiling…..

Pulled out the ghost peppers and redesigned that area of the garden to add about 50SF. That used about 3/4 of the finished compost so I still have a few cubic feet to distribute around. The picture shows a bowl full of peppers, mostly ghost but a couple of jalapenos from a bush I had forgotten. All in all I’ve picked half a dozen bowls of the ghost peppers, far more than I ever expected. The plants I pulled were loaded with small, green peppers and blossoms so I suspect they would have continued producing until the weather brought an end to it all. I’d just rather see the same space producing lettuce and I know the ladies at the bridge club and quilting club will be happier.

This will be the last compost mention for a while. I completely used the most mature pile and then transferred the contents of the currently active pile – that would be the one receiving new inputs – into the empty slot and then shut that pile down to new input. In about 90 days it should be ready to use – mid February. Doesn’t sound like much when you write it down but it took a couple of hours and wore me to a frazzle. My neighbor, the clipping nazi, had been trimming around her house and produced a substantial pile of new material so I already have a start for the empty bin. It’s virtually impossible for me to keep up with Barbara 100% without the aid of the burn pile, which gets brought into service when the piles just get too big for me to deal with. The picture shows the empty bin after loading the garden along side the active pile. The next picture shows the bins after the transfer and with the new pile started (left side bin). That bin gets all the new input while the bin on the right just sits there and decomposes. Well, it doesn’t just sit there. I try to turn it over twice a week to keep it aerated and cooking. You’ll notice I move the wheelbarrows to block that side and signal Nancy and Barbara to use the left side for all new materials. As you can tell, I have this down to a finely oiled machine like operation.

Still trying to digest the news that Urban Meyer is moving to Ohio State. Now I know how the Ute fans felt even though that move was more understandable as a career uptick.

The patio tomatoes worked out ok. They’re putting out a decent crop of mini- tomatoes or giant cherry tomatoes, whichever. I made a few mistakes this time around because I expected the plants to be smaller. I put 3 plants in the container and then inadequately supported them. I guess I was expecting smaller plants or not thinking straight. Just for grins, I’m going to start some new plants and see if I have any luck growing them in the dead of winter. Nothing to lose. The pic shows a few tomatoes, a few peppers, and a head of cabbage.

I started cutting back the ghost peppers, gathering a good shipment for my nephew and leaving one last major picking for the original seed supplier. I’ll see him Thanksgiving and deliver the goods. I did get to thinking – would the ghost peppers heat up the compost pile and maybe ward off nematodes in the future? I guess we’ll find out next year because I pitched a couple of handfuls of the peppers into the pile and there will be a load of leaves and stems which, perhaps, carries some heat too. Speaking of which, what a rich, eclectic mixture the current filling pile will yield. It has all the standard stuff, chopped palmettos, oak leaves, and grass clippings but this one will include some citrus, cabbage leaves, and a large variety of shrub and fern trimmings. It also has a fairly heavy load of seaweed and lots of wood ash. Also, when I took out the poke boat the other day, I had to chop down a load of tall lake grass and that too made it to the compost pile. The pile is big enough to shut down now but I still have a ready to use pile that has to go first. Which brings me back to the ghost peppers. Once I pull those and two more cabbages, I will be filling the spot and an adjacent area with the ready to use pile adding approximately 50SF of new and improved garden space, about a foot thick with compost. So that leaves me an empty compost bin to start a new pile and close down the nearly full pile I’ve been working recently. The pile I quit adding to will be ready the end of February. The pic shows the active pile on the left and the remainder of the ready to use pile on the right. For size perspective, the active pile is 5’x5’x2′; the ready pile is 7’x2‘x18”.

My neighbor came home to a surprise the other night; his water system was dead. Turns out some critter got into the pump contacters and fried the system. Fried is probably too light a term – completely burned it up to barely recognizable chars. We ran a hose from my system over to his and he was back in business within an hour. I had the exact same thing happen a few years back. In that case I just happened to be walking by the pump when it burst into flame and left my contact box looking exactly like his. When I got down to examine it, sure enough there was a giant palmetto bug across the contactors. Very well cooked. I had a pump guy come in and fix mine whereas George will have enough parts around to reconstruct a workable solution. I decided to open mine back up and see if anything had taken up unauthorized residence and sure enough there was a small family of spiders and a handful of lizard eggs inside the contact box but all in all, fairly clean. I blew it out and sprayed it with long term insect killer and need to remember to do that every 6 months or so.

Picked the season’s first cabbage and the neighbor cut a load of kale. If you count Chinese cabbage, there are roughly 35 more coming along. I spread them out fairly well and mother nature also brings them along at different times so these will keep us in cole slaw, fried cabbage and many other variations for the next couple of months. I also started some seedlings (see pic below) a couple of weeks back to fill the holes as they become available. That will be February and March eatin’s. George said the Kale was the best he had ever had. I suspect it’s the first time he ever ate it about an hour after it was picked. Maybe I should try some. I know for sure I’ve never tasted any fresh from the garden and that could make a big difference.

Everything is doing so well in the garden I decided to take a walk on the wild side and expand my beet crop. I’ve had mostly bad luck with beets but maybe this is the year…… I planted a patch of the old classic, I think they’d probably call this one a heritage it’s so old – Detroit Dark Red, about a month ago and observed nearly 100% germination. I used the scissor technique to thin and the plants seem to be coming along nicely. With that behind me, I grabbed into the old seed bag and found a 2008 packet labeled Lutz, long season beets. Long season means an 80 day cycle compared to 55 for the Detroits. The picture shows the Lutz variety to be quite a bit bigger and uglier, if shape is a figure of merit. The packet says it’s sweeter than the DDR’s and taste trumps looks, especially when they’re pickled. (The only thing I like about Harvard is how they do their beets). I remember trying this variety in 2008 and getting zero production but that was then and this is now. Completely different soil conditions and a far more experienced farmer. For example I soaked the seed for 5 hours this time and I’m sure I didn’t think to do that last time. I’m also watering frequently since I now know that the worst thing for beets is inadequate watering. After 4 days in the ground I was surprised to see some germination starting. What normally happens is that species or varieties with long growing durations, germinate slowly. For example, when I plant an 80+ day veggie I look for first germination 10 days after planting and am not too surprised to see it go 2 weeks. Soaking the seed on some types does shorten the germination time. The next factor is percentage of seeds that germinate at all. With good fresh seed and decent conditions, I typically experience 90%. With 3 year old seed, maybe zero. For comparison, radishes are a very short crop – 25-35 days – and it’s normal to see seedlings within 3 days. After 6 days I can tell that the rate is going to be quite high so old beet seed is ok (so far). I also soaked and planted some 2008 spinach seed.

I frequently use the term “seedlings”. Here’s a pic of the next batch of seedlings sitting in the greenhouse. These are generally about two weeks old. The next step for these guys is into individual trays, flats, when they develop at least 4 leaves, usually 3-4 weeks, depending on the variety. The flat in the picture is lettuce from one of the seedling containers. Then into the garden some time in December; on the table January thru March. You can’t tell from the pictures but this group includes 3 different lettuce varieties, 2 cabbages, a broccoli, celery, and parsley.